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RPlog:Abandoned Sith Factory
Getting Inside When Danik Kreldin destroyed Cochran, he turned it into a large rock with unstable plate tectonics. When Dareus's tricky escape unleashed yet more fury on the planet below, the unstable surface of Cochran was seared solid in many places. StarOps has done the Audacity the service of clearing out a path through the minefields for the landing team to take. Skywalker's orders were rather simple - he'd instructed Wrista and Vengan to prepare their marines for extremely hostile and dangerous situations. The potential droid threat, along with the ecological instability of the planet, made this a high-risk situation. Aboard the Audacity's bridge, Luke stands behind Commander Starwind, observing as the ship flies closer to Cochran. The desolate planet looks more like an old, rusty moon than anything else. Commander Starwind may be FleetOps, but he doesn't look it at the moment. His uniform has been swapped out for a set of fatigues just in case a landing proves prudent - he has no intention of staying behind. "Sensors, give us an idea of what we're dealing with, please," he says conversationally, tilting his head slightly as he keeps his gaze on the planet looming closer and closer up ahead. "Take us in nice and easy, helm. A low orbit should be fine for now." "I don't think landing would be a good idea anyway, sir," the Mirialan woman seated at the sensors station says, frowning thinly at her display. "Magma activity beneath the surface is insane." Vengan, wearing four-fifths of a massive Marine exoskeletal environmental suit, peers at a readout of the planet's surface. The bulky face shield has been retracted into the cowl that surrounds his head. For once, the Marine towers over the others with the five-inch height advantage the bulky gear provides. At his side is a more lightly equipped Marine shuttle pilot, his own flight suit reinforced for the unpredictable planetary conditions. "I think there's a spot here we could touch down on," the pilot says, looking to Vengan. Draelis nods at the man, marking the indicated area for closer inspection. "Good tectonics, solid mass, low exhaust points...yeah, that might do," the Lieutenant murmurs. He raises his voice to get Luke and Starwind's attention. "Sirs? I think we might have found a halfway decent drop location," he offers. Luke's attention remains riveted on the viewscreen as Cochran's ravaged surface grows larger and larger while the ship moves into a low orbit. Leaving the crew to do their best, he merely observes the talk that transpires, instead calling on the Force continually to remain strong amidst the chilling echo of so much death. Wrista is wearing a substantially lighter gear then Vengan is when she steps onto the bridge, but she's always resisted anything that hampers her mobility. So it's unsurprising that she appears to have managed to find someone to modify an environmental suit into a slightly more lightweight, flexible arrangement. She carries the helmet dangling from an attachment point on her hip, because despite the modifications to accommodate her lekku, helmets are still a hated, annoying thing. The suit is a dark, midnight blue just like her preferred set of fatigues, again with a subdued Republic crest on the shoulders. She's carrying a light, nimble blaster carbine, and her ubiquitous curved short sword has been strapped to the small of her back. The twi'lek thumbs over her shoulder. "Looks like we're all suited up and ready to have a peek at this place. Or what's left of it." "No landing," Starwind replies to the sensors officer, nodding once. "Gotcha." When Vengan speaks up, he half-turns to look over his shoulder towards the marine, his eyebrows briefly leaping up his forehead at the man's get-up before he schools his expression back into a more serious one. "Super," he replies solemnly, gesturing towards the Mirialan woman. "Let the nice lady know where you have in mind so we can be sure you won't be swallowed by hot liquid death as soon as you impact the surface, and we'll take it from there." "Magma isn't a liqui--" "Cooontinue with your scanning, please." "Yessir. Coordinates follow," Vengan says, raising his voice to the female at the helm and rattles off a long series of numbers, rounding the landing point off to the decisecond. "But don't worry. We won't scratch this bird up taking her down," he says with a vaguely lopsided sort of grin." Vengan lifts his chin at Wrista, a grin crossing his face. "Karking scouts," he teases almost affectionately. "Don't come whining to me when you burn your foot off on a lava flow. Are the landing shuttles ready?" he asks Wrista, adjusting the exoskeleton's grip on the modified A280 in his hands. "I think we found a nice piece of real estate to settle down and raise a little family on. A bit hot, but I bet it's pleasant come wintertime." "You won't find me tripping over my own feet into one, at least," Wrista retorts primly, but without malice before nodding. "By the time we get down there, anyway. They're finishing the loading now." Luke turns slightly and walks toward the forward viewport, as if being closer might give him a better idea of where they should go. His senses tickle at something, and he stretches out his arm toward what would appear to be the remains of some tectonic movement - a gigantic ridge of rock, a great distance away yet large enough to be seen from lower orbit. "Commander, check out that rock formation," he says. "A little respect for the dead, please," Starwind says conversationally, though it's anyone's guess who the comment is directed toward - his gaze is once again firmly rooted on the approaching planet. He slowly wanders up behind the helmsman to watch over his shoulder. "You heard the man. Take us in for a look." The helmsman nods and the ship begins a slow descent towards the ridge, and Starwind looks back towards the sensors officer even as she speaks up again. "Your spot looks good, Lieutenant, but I've got better," she states, fingers dancing across her console as she sends coordinates up to the helm. "I'm picking up life support readings ten kilometers below the surface here - there's a subterranean facility of some kind. Sound like what you're looking for?" she asks lightly, looking back towards Vengan with a cheeky smile. She's soon aiming the sensors at the ridge Luke indicated, though. Busy day for the scanners. Vengan grins in reply to the helmsmen, taking it in stride. "Might be. There were some really interesting looking rocks back there that I don't think I'm gonna get a chance to blast now, though. Oh well. Guess that's why I went into the Marines and not the Geological Survey Corps." He confers with the pilot, running a few numbers through the machine again. "If you can get us within about a half-click aerial...two clicks latitudinal displacement and angle a ten degree yaw by the negative so we can drop a bit hotter, I'd appreciate it. If there's ground fire, I don't want my boys to be dodging potshots while we're making our landing." Wrista peers at the sensor display, frowning. "Ten clicks? I don't suppose you've also found a shaft we could land through or something as well? That's a long hike to be taking through solid rock." Luke glances over toward Vengan as well, cocking an eyebrow. "Ten K isn't an easy dig, and I doubt any access ways survived." He turns to motion out toward the barren graveyard before them. "See those crater marks? They bombarded this location before they left. Reports show that ever since Kreldin ruined this place, the plate tectonics have been completely out of whack. Dareus's bombardment undoubtedly opened that fissure." He points toward the wall of rock outcroppings, which just now to the normal eye begins to reveal itself to be something akin to a massive crevasse in the rocky, desolate planet. As the ship grows closer, small pinpricks of red suddenly appear in the rock wall, followed momentarily by multiple eruptions of magma, throwing the vile red liquid both into the crevasse and out onto the cratered planet surface. Starwind's lips draw back into a thin line as he regards the ravine, as well as the magma erupting from the surrounding stone. He isn't paying attention to Luke's words. He's busy. "Sensooors..?" "It's a big hole," the Mirialan reports intelligently. "Very, very deep... and it looks like it shares a wall with our facility." "Fortune smiles, Sugar," Starwind says brightly, glancing back towards Wrista and winking playfully before he looks to the screen again. "How big we talkin' here?" The Mirialan checks her display. "About two hundred meters wide, bit over a dozen kilometers deep. Wh--" "Keen. Helm, take us in," Starwind says confidently, straightening up and folding his arms across his chest, ignoring the alarmed look from the Ensign seated at the controls. Well... for a moment. "General, if you would be so kind as to help ease us in without dinking or singing my ship, I would be most grateful. Shields to full strength. As for you two," he adds, looking back towards Vengan and Wrista. "You will need explosives, and you will need grappling lines. We have both if you didn't bring your own. Go on down and prep, I'll owe your pilot a drinkie when we get back for robbing him of his fun." "You're taking her down?" Vengan states incredulously, both eyebrows hiking. "Sir, no disrespect intended but I don't really think that's practical or safe," he says, gesturing vaguely at the viewscreen. "We've got two Marine assault boats in the hangar bay that can easily gets our recon teams down there and secure the area. If you take this whole bird down in one piece and the tectonics go haywire...or if they've set a trap, for that matter...we could lose the entire ship instead of a handful of Marines," the Lieutenant points out. "Unless I'm missing something entirely, here," Vengan asks the command group as a whole. Wrista pauses, as Starwind's flippant comment catches her in the middle of, coincidentally, locating a sugarstick to chew on, and the twi'lek gives him a rather distasteful look for the honorific. Probably because it's woefully opportune this time. "Fantastic," she says, and means it. She'd much rather be dangling from lines out the belly hatches of the Audacity than sitting packed into a tiny box of a shuttle. She's accustomed to shuttles, but that doesn't mean she likes them. "Though I suppose there is that. We may not have anywhere to land the shuttles down in there, but we can string drop lines from them just as well." Though the smaller craft may have more difficulty with the turbulence. "My pleasure," replies Skywalker, who turns and walks over to take an auxiliary nav station. The navigator seems freaked out by the idea of working alongside the legendary Luke Skywalker, but Luke gives him an encouraging nod. "Don't worry, buddy, I've done this before." He pauses. Not exactly this... as in, you know, taking a ship down into a magma-littered ravine, but he /has/ operated a corvette. Whisking the thought aside, he sits down and taps into the controls. Overhearing the talk between the marines, Luke calls out some advice. "We're much better off operating a heavier repulsorfield than two smaller, more violently shifting ones," he notes. "The chance of causing a shift in the rock wall is actually less likely this way." R2-D2 chimes in his own two chits, chiming that the odds are approximately 1,027 in favor of the Commander's idea. Luke grins just slightly, and settles in to help pilot the thing. "Okay, wait a moment." He waits until a fresh eruption signals the seeming end of the magma disturbance below, then nods. "Okay, this is a good time. Let's go." "Thank you, General." After giving Luke a quick smile, Starwind turns towards Vengan, silent for a moment before pointing at the pips on his own collar. "Mine are bigger." He could go into more detail as to why he's chosen to take the Audacity down instead of just sending the shuttles, but nah. Besides, Luke covered it neatly. The Commander steps over towards the shield operator to keep an eye on his display, one side of his mouth twitching up into a grin as R2 rattles off the odds. His crew, whatever they think of their orders and Vengan's observation, do their jobs. "Better go get your boom-booms," he asides towards the marines. "We'll be there shortly." An eyebrow goes up as Starwind throws his rank in Vengan's face. The Marine clearly takes it as a fairly high insult. As the commander turns away, Vengan casts a disparaging glance at Wrista, one that seems to nicely encompass both his disdain for Fleet officers in general and a certain cock-of-the-walk Corvette captain in the room. "Sir. Yes sir," Vengan says, biting the last word off with enough force to make it echo around the room. "Sir, we've got our own equipment, sir. Marines always come prepared, sir. Sir, if the sir won't be needing me anymore, this Marine is going to go do his job, sir." The picture perfect Marine, addressing an officer of superior rank. There's a note of derision in his voice, but not one that a person could really call someone to task over. It takes talent, but there are ways to be snide without being mutinous. The Marine activates his communicator and strides towards the access doors at the rear of the bridge. "Bandit Two to all units, gather your gear. Disembark from the shuttle and prepare for a live-atmo rappel. Prep maglines and rappel gear," he says, the doors sliding shut behind him and undoubtedly cutting off a growling litany of insults. Wrista finds the nearest female officer on the bridge and trades that particular roll of eyes at the exchange between Vengan and Starwind, jumping right past Marines vs. Fleet and straight to '*Men*'. But then she's cheery again and pulls her helmet free of its spot on her hip, tossing Starwind an extremely loose salute and sunny "I don't think he likes you!" before she, too, departs the bridge. Luke bites back any comment, because he and the poor navigator have just gotten themselves into the thick of it. The canyon walls begin to rise outside as the two are forced to rely more on sensor and holographic scans rather than eyesight. "Steady," says the navigator, almost for his own benefit. Luke, however, remains completely silent. "Z-minus 2 kilometers," he announces after a few minutes, denoting that yes, this drop is going to take some time. Though his gaze never leaves the display, Vengan's words don't seem to have any effect on Commander Starwind, save for the increasingly amused grin on his face that is joined by a quiet snickering when he hears the doors whisk shut. The shield operator glances at him sidelong, and Starwind quietly muses "Wonder what he'd do if I called him a 'mud foot'." As the ship eases down into the ravine, Starwind strides across the bridge and back over to the sensors officer, gesturing to another officer for a comm channel to be established between the bridge and marine squad leaders. As he speaks, he leans over to read a display that the sensors officer points him to, his tone slightly distracted as a result. <''Okay, campers. Today's menu is the southern wall. One standard stick should take you through just fine. You'll be catching some escaping atmosphere in the face when it blows, so either get out of the way or hang on nice and tight. Either or. Try not to get shot.> Straightening, he looks towards Luke and the helmsman, running a hand back over his hair and humming thoughtfully. "Take your time." Vengan adjusts his gear, the Marines standing in two columns next to one another with their towlines and ship grapples already deployed. Nothing short of massive inertia would destroy those monofilament wires. <''Prep for depressurization,> Vengan says though the communicator. His face is invisible behind the opaque plasteel of the bulky environmental suit. <''We're gonna deploy *kssssh* once the Audacity draws level with an underground installation. Demo team one will be setting minimal breach charges. Use your shotguns and ion cannons, this place is *kkkksssh* structurally unstable. No grenades.> Wrista seals her helmet with the quiet hiss of a pressure seal, and double-checks her glove seals, before she gets her dropline set and deployed, letting Vengan do the talking for now. It's his squad, this time; she was just along for her expertise. <''Everything looks green here; as soon as the ship's in place we should be go.> Luke doesn't take Starwind's comment as sarcasm, but quite literal honesty. The Commander doesn't want magma burning a hole through his hull, after all. Ten agonizing minutes go by, but between Skywalker and the nav ensign, the ship gets down to its mark well enough. "Okay," says the ensign. "Tilt x-minus 47." The Audacity begins to tilt ever so slightly, so that the bay doors will give the marines a direct shot at the canyon wall. "Watch that outcropping," says Luke, and the ensign obliges. A few moments later, he turns with excited eyes toward Starwind. "We're in position, Commander." Just as it had been intended. Commander Starwind watches patiently while his ship is maneuvered into position, trusting both his pilot and the assisting Jedi to get it into position without any severe problems. He is quite possibly the calmest man on the bridge during the descent. When the ship reaches its position and begins to tilt, he cracks a smile and nods once towards the pair at the helm. "Nicely done, gentlemen. Thank you. Start calculating our departure vectors now, since we have some time... slow ones and fast ones." After a pause, he ads, "You can coordinate with gunnery if you're feeling showy." He glances towards the communications officer and nods once, and the channel to the marines opens again. <''You're green for drop, ladies and gentlemen. May the Force be with you.> Six Marines on lead lines dangle from beneath the Audacity, planting a circle of breaching charges to make an entrance for their companions. Once the charges are set, they are hauled back into the hangar bay. The explosion, when it comes, gives a puff of ancient dust and a hollow boom that barely carries in the lack of atmosphere. At that point, the Marines swing out on lead lines and deploy in a suitably heroic fashion. As little as Wrista cares for not being the first through any door, gap, crevasse, or much of anything else, she's resigned to letting Vengan's squad take the lead, and neatly drops in behind them, crossing through the gap and releasing her line with practiced ease. She gives herself several seconds to look and listen in the dark before she turns her helmet's headlamp on to see where they've ended up. <''We're in, Audacity.> "Artoo?" The little droid obeys Luke's simple request, and rolls over to jack into the navigator's console, putting himself right next to the Ensign's legs. He begins bleeping quietly as he crunches data from the scans and feeds them back to Luke and the Ensign's terminals in language they'll understand. He spares a moment to cast a look back toward the Commander, squinting his eyes. "You got any light EVA gear available?" he inquires. He barely notices the slight touch of atmosphere brushing the Audacity, a sign that the marine demolitionists of Raider Battalion are, indeed, among the best. <''Super. We'll keep the light on for you. Just shout if you need anything.> Starwind rubs his hands together, looking pleased. "Keep the channel open for receiving, just in case," he adds, before he looks to Luke and tilts his head slightly. "Oh, yeah, racks of the stuff," he confirms, thumbing over his shoulder towards the bridge's exit. He grins slightly, quirking a brow. "You wanna borrow some?" Vengan moves up with the demolition experts- himself no novice at explosives- and takes a knee, examining the door with them. There's a brief conversation over the comlinks, and Vengan rises and steps away while they start deploying their thermal breaching charges- basically an ultra-small yield thermal detonator. <''Bandit Two to Audacity. We're getting ready to set breaching charges,> Vengan informs the command team. <''There's going to be some massive depressurization, at least initially. Brace for impact.> Vengan makes a hand-cutting gesture at the rest of the Marines and they take shelter around one another, tethered like a host of children on a field trip and low and huddled to the ground, making themselves as aerodynamic as possible. Squad leads lock themselves in place using deep-penetrating grapnels. Vengan thumbs the detonator switch. <''Three...two...one...Fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole!> he calls, blowing the charges. The sudden flash of heat and light is immediately overwhelmed by the deafening roar of wind and air as the pressure equalizes itself forcefully, even sending a few Marines rolling along the ground to the limit of their tether cords. No one flies away, fortunately, and within a minute the air is balanced again. Vengan is the first to his feet, examining the now open doors before making a 'come-on' gesture. Thirty-nine headlamps dance in the light as the Marines clamber to their feet and follow Vengan into the facility. Wrista tucks herself, briefly, to minimize the impact the short-lived wind from the interior has on her light frame, and then follows the others inside, casting her helmet light around. <''Alright, everything still looks more or less stable. But we should try and do this quickly anyway. Structural integrity can't be in very good shape after all this.> "There may be things the marines won't notice," he explains, turning and rising from the chair. "Jedi matters." He taps his temple knowingly, and then looks toward the navigator. "Great work, Ensign. I trust you can handle it from here. Artoo, go easy on him." The little droid bleeps and twirps an affirmative. Luke departs, heading belowdecks to suit up. From the Inside Out Ten kilometers below the surface, that's what the scans said. It would appear to be true. Audacity had been flown deep into a seemingly bottomless crevasse, formed by the unstable plate tectonics of Cochran. The marines, wearing suits capable of sustaining the lack of atmosphere outside, were able to blow a hole in the rock wall, exposing the outer side of a strong facility inside. Another explosive charge was followed by the sudden, severe, and quick backlash of air being sucked out into the vacuum. However, the charges were easily able to blow open the facility. Inside, dim, red and yellow security lights illuminate a long and dark tunnel, and the beams projected by the marines' helmets. A quick visual scan reveals two blast doors at either end of the hallway, most likely slammed shut when the walls were blown open. Skywalker, now suited up in a vac-suit, leaps across the chasm and into the tunnel, moving to join the marines with a swift gait. Wrista lets her light play around the darkness, and the blast doors, studying them as everyone comes together in front of them. <''If these doors shut when we blew the wall, they still have power. Someone hotwire them so we don t' loose much more atmosphere. I don't fancy going through blast door after blast door. Just make sure we can get back out through them later.> A couple of the more technically-apt marines nod, and get to work with that, while Wrista continues to look around the immediate area with her helmet light. <''We'll want to move through quickly once they open, people, so be ready.> Commander Starwind has remained on the bridge of the Audacity, but he's no longer wandering around. He's settled into the second navigation seat to assist the Ensign with calculating their escape vectors once the ground mission is completed. The communication channel between the bridge and the marines remains open, though the bridge mutes itself when they aren't discussing anything prudent to the ground op itself. The crew continue to watch their respective stations attentively, monitoring the surrounding plate tectonics for any signs of trouble. After a moment, the Commander looks towards the communications officer, raising his voice slightly. "Mister Parsons, send a security team down to make sure nothing but marines come aboard, and make sure medical is on notice. Just in case." Luke pokes his helmeted head through the tunnel and into the hallway, watching as the marines get to work on hotwiring the door. His eyes squint, and he turns aside to give the rest of the hallway a good once-over. "Wait a second," he says quietly, frowning, and walks over toward a panel in the wall. He reaches up with a gloved hand and forces it open with a strong push, revealing a set of controls beneath that were hidden. "Hold that, Ipex," he says into the comm. "I think I just found something." He leans forward, giving the panel a good look, before reaching inside and flipping two switches. Suddenly, the opening blown by the marines shimmers, being covered by a protective ray shield. Luke turns around at the humming sound, and walks back over to the tunnel's jagged opening, examining where the shield interfaces with the rock wall. "Okay... try opening those doors ''now," he says. "Even better," Wrista says happily, turning to give a go-ahead signal with one hand. "Who knew they'd be so thorough about safety systems. Alright, pop it," she tells the pair working on the door controls, and after a few seconds, the massive blast door grinds open, A pair of point-men going through it with blasters held ready as soon as there's enough room to admit them. "Security is in place and medical has been alerted, sir," Parsons reports. Starwind nods in satisfaction, though his gaze remains rooted to his and the helmsman's calculations. "Thank you." The facility is dark, only lit by some of the emergency lighting that remains intact. Life support is active here - the EVA helmets would indicate that clear enough. Once through the blast doors, the accessway curves around and opens up to show a massive facility. The extent of its size is hidden by the lack of illumination, but the fact that the beams dissipate into darkness says a lot. Most of the equipment seems to have been removed, save for the larger features that simply were part of the facility itself; conveyor belts, large cranes, and glide track rails that run to and fro, into smaller tunnels that lead Force knows where. Luke steps into the massive room, and slowly reaches to remove his helmet with a snap and a hiss of releasing air. He draws in a deep breath, smelling the stink of grease and industry. His eyes taken on a hardened expression as he looks around. "Commander, are you getting this?" he asks through the comm. Wrista can't seem to remove her helmet fast enough once the sensors confirm the atmosphere, popping her helmet seals and pulling it off, the gray lekku uncoiling in a distinctly grateful fashion from their armored confinement to fall down her back again. She hooks the helmet back onto her hip, detaching the light to clip it to the back of her left hand instead. "They certainly cleaned house, didn't they?" she muses, casting her light around. The other marines also pop the seals on their helmets, though most don't actually take the helmets off, preferring to save their internal air without sacrificing the added protection. "Smells like they were very busy here, though," she adds, with a distasteful look for the scent hanging on the air. "Five by five, General," comes Commander Starwind's transmitted response, his voice carrying a grin quite clearly. He glances over his shoulder to the woman at the sensors console, quirking a brow in silent question, and she shakes her head with a disgruntled frown. Whatever the silent exchange was, they both seem fluent in the language. The Commander simply nods in reply, turning back to his work. "How's it looking in there, sir?" "That's not entirely surprising," says Luke to Wrista, off the comm. He takes a few steps in, then looks back toward the more technically-apt marines, the same ones who managed to slice open the door. "We need to shed some light on the place, these beams aren't going to do the job and I'd rather not waste flarebulbs." He then turns away, looking around again as he triggers the comm. "Well, it smells like industry, that's for sure. We can't see much of anything yet, but we're working on it." He pauses for a moment, listening to the way his voice echoes. "It sounds and feels... big." Wrista shrugs. "Got to be an on-button for the things somewhere. Clearly it's not automated." And one way or another, it doesn't take long, either finding a control or jogging power through the proper relay. A warning is issued, eyes are covered, and the lights come up, the sounds of large power relays closing as each bank in the room comes on in turn. Commander Starwind starts to open his mouth to reply but stops short, his eyes flicking between those on the bridge with him. They aren't privy to the same details he is... and frankly, they don't need to be. It would only rattle them. He closes his mouth, looking thoughtful, before he nods once and leans over to check the helmsman s calculations. "They do like to do things big," he says over the comm, his tone light. "See anything in there that will make my techs' eyes light up like a kid on Life Day?" Chunk. Chunk. Chunk. One by one, the power circuits come online. The facility seems to stretch out in every direction, reinforced here and there by thick columns to keep the place in one piece. The size is staggering, stretching out in every direction away from the general 'wall' that the group is next to. "Grife," curses Luke, scowling. "I guess this is how you spew out thousands of battle droids," he says, taking a pair of steps forward and looking into the expansive room. There are computer banks, of course, but they are charred and nearly destroyed. More conveyor belts and massive chunks of machinery are visible, but most of the finite details have either been destroyed or withdrawn. His eyes fall on a set of gliderail tracks that, some distance away, hold a train of cargo transports filled with raw materials, most likely having come from the tunnels. He points toward them, and looks back to Wrista. "Mines?" Wrista follows Luke's finger when he calls her attention to it, peering off in that direction. "Probably. They must have been pulling material out of the magma flows, like they do on places like Mustafar." She shrugs a shoulder. "Probably one of the best reasons for using Cochran. It sure beats digging, since the stuff's already smelted." She points at some of the ruined consoles. "Those computer banks look pretty trashed, but maybe we can find some intact data storage we could raid or something." Mines? "Cool. If it looks stable enough down there, I can call upstairs and see if we can get a survey team down here to see how usable they look," Starwind muses, scratching his chin. Absently, he pats the helmsman on the shoulder approvingly, settling back in his own seat. A shudder runs through Luke from head to do. Hidden by the suit, it shows in his face for a moment, which grows a little pale. He closes his eyes and shakes his head slightly, then reopens them. "Have at it," he suggests, then walks over toward the nearest conveyor belt. He gently removes his glove, then places his palm down on the belt and closes his eyes, sinking into the flow of the Force. Almost at the same time as this, a shudder seems to run through the place. His eyes open sharply, and he peers about with a paranoid expression. The vibration runs through his feet and into his legs, subtle but powerful. Then it goes silent. Wrista pauses at the vibration, her keenly trained senses having not missed the change to her footing. She sets it aside as not immediately worth worrying about when she has a job to do, and gestures a pair of the marine tech experts towards the computers. "See if you can find anything worth dragging back for analysis. The rest of you, fan out in pairs and look for anything else of interest here. Watch each others' backs, and if anything looks suspicious or dangerous, haul back here on the double." She elects to keep her eyes on Luke and her ion carbine covering his back while he's submerged in the ebb and flows of the place. She keys her comm back on. <''True, I suppose one could argue that putting the place to better use would go some fair way to healing the planet s wounds, if I can be permitted the mysticism.> "You may," Starwind replies somberly over the com, steepling his fingers and peering at his display over his fingertips. "It would be fitting, I think. If not the mines you have there, perhaps we can raise the idea of pursing mining operations here, now that we know there's something worth the effort down there. We'll just need to know what exactly it is before we go making any pitches." He casts a quick glance back towards his sensors officer before he adds, also over the com, "If it gets too shaky down there, though, scrub it and we'll worry about it another time." Luke breathes out a quiet breath he'd been holding, and once again begins to sink into the Force. It is difficult. Wrista couldn't have known, but her mention of Mustafar brought a chilling anger into Luke's soul that he was now having difficulty fighting. Compound to that, the platoon of marines only bring so much of the Force's strength here... the rest of it is strongly tainted by the stink of death and the ice of Malign. His face shivers slightly, a cold sweat beading on his forehead as he sinks once, trying to swim through the ebb and flow of the dark side without succumbing to its power. His jawline is tight as he goes, searching until he finds a line of history upon which he can look... secrets of the facility being played out in his mind by the tendril of the Force he's found. An energy conduit snaps somewhere in the distance, throwing a shower of sparks into the room far away and causing the lights in that grid to flicker. Wrista's gun comes up as the sparks fall, but she relaxes when nothing jumps off the wall at them. And then people start reporting in. <''Sir, we've found what looks like some armor plate. Fairly heavy, but from the shape, probably came off the droids.> <''Five here, sirs. Got a bin full of some sort of parts, probably droid components. Some weapon components as well.> Wrista doesn’t need to think about all that too much. <''Good job. Drag whatever you can back to the entry and get it hoisted up into the Audacity. Anyone have anything else?> <''Nothing useful, Sir. There were definitely people working here at some point, we just found what looks like some sort of living space beyond the south wall.> "Sounds like they were pretty thorough on their way out," Starwind murmurs, exchanging a look with the helmsman before he turns in his seat to look at the communications officer again. "Get a couple techs down to help haul this stuff up, if you'd be so kind, Mister Parsons." "Already done, sir," Parsons replies, nodding once to Starwind. Starwind is silent for a moment, eyes flicking from side to side, before he straightens slightly in his seat. "...well. Good." The squad Vengan's attached himself to peer around the secondary chamber they've stumbled into. They aren't out of earshot or comlink range, but they've definitely ranged apart from the rest of the crew. "Bandit Two to team lead," Vengan says into his comlink. "Lead, come in. We seem to have found some sort of...I'm not sure what," Vengan admits. He regards the menacing visage of an inert droid unit. "I'm not sure if it's a laboratory or a repair facility. We estimate there's...thirty or forty combat droids in here in various states of repair. Some of them look more or less intact or at least operationally ready. I've got some slicers seeing if they can't pull some schematics or diagnostic patterns off of them now," he says, gesturing a Marine slicer specialist at a nearby console. "Correction- lots of -parts," Vengan says into his microphone. "Looks like...I dunno. Droids? Robots, maybe?" He kicks a piece of metal likely used as a chassis. "It's hard to say. Looks like some kind of laboratory." Suddenly, a collection of small ports open up in two dozen locations throughout the near vicinity, and the whine of servos signals movement. From each port come out automatically-aimed blasters, which pivot toward various people and begin spraying the area with plasma! Skywalker jumps to his feet, whipping the lightsaber from his belt and bringing it to life with a violent hiss and a hum of motion. Two bolts strike the blade and go straight back to where they came from, turning two of the autoblasters into smoking slag. Wrista had been beginning to reply to Vengan, but she instead snaps to alert attention at the whine of servos... that's more life than they've seen out of the place yet, and she trusts the facility about as far as she can throw the whole place. In short, not far. She skips backwards between Luke and the conveyor belt as the Jedi's saber whips out, trusting the whirling green blade to provide cover on that side, and she clicks her com back on. <''Find cover! We've got automated defenses, live fire!> Warning thrown, she snaps her blaster up, firing around Luke at the automated weapons, blue ion bolts crackling through the stale air. She trusts Luke to be in tune enough to realize what she's doing and avoid bouncing her shots. Of course, they're not a danger to him, so they're probably not even impacting on his awareness that much. While the faces of his crew whip around towards him as the sounds of blaster fire carry over the comm, Commander Starwind draws his lips back into a thin line, briefly resting a steadying hand on the young helmsman's shoulder before rising to his feet. "Steady, son. Keep your eye on the tectonic activity, Miss Jun," he says calmly to the sensors operative, stepping away from the helm and clasping his hands behind his back. "Tell security to be on their toes and have a med team report to their location, Mister Parsons, but under no circumstances do they set foot off of ship unless I give the order." He glances towards tactical. "Run a diagnostic on the tractor beams. I want to be sure they're working if we need to keep their door open for them." A chorus of quiet "Aye"s sound through the bridge as people quickly set about their tasks. Commander Starwind stands in the center of his bridge, hands clasped behind his back, all but radiating calm as if it were second nature. He trusts the Jedi and marines to be able to hold their own against the automated fire. It's the planet he's concerned about. "Take cover!" Vengan shouts, the Marine lieutenant hurling himself sideways in a remarkable display of alacrity. Two of the Marines are not as lucky as their fellows who hit the deck- one, a glancing blow to the upper shoulder, but the other goes down with a wet gurgle as the bolt lances a hole through his lower torso. "Ion blasters! Get that stun cannon up!" Vengan shouts. The Marine draws his pistol and fires a few rounds wildly from behind cover, trying to disable the autoturret. Elsewhere, the harsh *whoop* of ion rifles fills the air as the Marines shoot to disable the devices filling the air with blaster fire. One by one, the autoblasters either get shorted out by ion fire, or blasted into pieces by return plasma by Skywalker's lightsaber. Smoke fills the air and shrapnel gets sent flying from stray bolts. Still, the marines were well equipped to handle this swiftly, even without a Jedi Master about. The problem is, plasma hitting the walls and floors in such sudden ferocity isn't good for the dodgy state of the surrounding rock and magma. Within seconds, the entire place begins to rumble, and the Audacity's sensors begin to show an alarming development... well, a number of them, really, all having to do with shifting rock and moving magma. Outside the facility, a fresh flow of lava bursts from above the blown-open entryway. It sprays and splatters off Audacity's shields, then begins flowing smoothly down the canyon wall. Wrista isn't happy at all about all this mess going on. Things had been going relatively well. She fires two shot to a blaster, the first to take it down and the second to be sure of it, but by the time the guns have silenced, it's obvious something much more problematic is afoot. <''Everyone still mobile? Audacity, how's it looking out there? Because it's not sounding so good in here. I think we may need to expedite the getting-out-alive portion of this operation.> Jun doesn't even need to speak - Starwind sees her alarmed expression and tilts his head slightly as he speaks into the comm. "It's time to leave," he transmits crisply, turning to briskly step over towards the tactical station, leaning over the officer's shoulder to survey his readings. "Gather your wounded and get back to the ship. We're going to see about giving you an umbrella." The tactical officer looks puzzled, and Starwind explains after he's muted his transmitter, pointing at his display. "Shields are holding and pushing the lava away? Then your job is to give their exit point shield cover long enough for them to get out. If that isn't an option, give me another one." The air, ripe with the pungent ozone of blaster fire, goes still. The quiet is broken by the groan and heave of the rocks and the walls themselves. "MEDIC!" someone shouts, and the Marines are moving again. The downed Marine is quickly laid out, knives slicing at armor and gear to get it away from the traumatized hole. "Bandit two to all units, sitreps and ACE reports," Vengan says into his comlink. He listens for reports, then changes the communicator over to the wide-range frequency. "Bandit Two to Lead, we have casualties. We better start evac right now." He gestures at the gear, reaching down and pulling the injured Marine's left arm over his shoulder while the medic goes for his right. "Everyone ruck up. Grab that stuff," he says, lifting his chin. "Lead, this is Bandit Two. I'm evac'ing my people to the Audacity." There are cracking sounds that fill the room after Luke shuts off his lightsaber and puts it back into its place on his belt. A moment later, his glove and helmet are back on. He grabs a satchel of stuff dropped by one of the marines, and moves toward the back of the group as they rush for the corridor from where they entered. "Lock up that blast door when we're through," he says, meeting the gaze of the technicians before the cracking sound grows violently loud. He turns to see a large crack forming in the wall, then spreading to the ceiling. It begins to glow red. "Move out!" he shouts to one marine who has stood agape at the crack. Luke reaches forward and drags the marine back, effectively snapping the guy out of his reverie mere moments before liquid hot magma begins to spill from the crack and splatter into the room. The roar starts to grow, leaning on deafening. <''Grab what you can and pound gravel, people!> Wrista orders flatly across the com. <''The place is coming apart! Drag the wounded if you have to, no time for field-dressing. No heroics, get your humps in gear!> She does, however, take the time to pull out her field holocamera for one more sweep of recording before she takes her own advice and makes tracks for the doors, tugging her helmet back on with a disgruntled noise. <''Seal helmets! No telling how long that atmosphere shield's staying up. Hope you're ready for us, Audacity, because here we come.> Starwind flicks his gaze to the tactical officer, who grimaces but nods crisply in reply. "We're ready," the Commander transmits. "We're covering your path with our shields. Not sure how long we can hold it if it gets too messy, so let's set a land speed record and trust that the Force is with us." He sets his jaw, crossing his arms and watching the shield readings like a hawk. "Helm, once we've confirmed everyone is aboard, let's use the quick ascent option, shall we?" "You heard her, move it out!" Vengan shouts at a pair of lagging Marines. He hands the wounded fellow off to another grunt, propelling the Marines along with his hands. "Helmets! Prepare for EVA! Mask up, mask up!" he shouts, re-sealing his own environmental suit as he goes. The Marine stands by the massive blast doors, counting heads as they go part to ensure no one is left behind. Magma suddenly breaks through the crack, sending chunks of the ceiling down around it and spilling volumes of deadly glowing liquid into the facility. Luke stops just on the wrong side of the blast doors, and throws his hands forward. His head tilts down and he wills the Force to move. The magma flow, heading with rapid speed toward the blast door, suddenly catches on something invisible, as if a transparent shield were blocking the magma from reaching the door. Skywalker backpedals through the blast door, scowling and grinding his teeth as he battles to use the Force in such a darkened, tainted place. Unable to speak, he simply waits on the other side of the door, keeping the deadly magma from spilling through the door and devouring those close to it. Wrista helps the first Marines to arrive get their grapples set and ascending, hurrying them along. The material they're bringing back gets rigged on lift cranes from the corvette's bay, and all is progressing with smooth, speedy professionalism when Wrista makes her way back towards those bringing up the rear, smacking people on the back on her way to encourage them to beat feet. "Tell me that's everyone, Ven. We've got to get out of here yesterday." The security and medical crews assist with the recovery as best they can from within the ship, seizing marines by the arms and hauling them back into the safety of the Audacity as soon as they come within reach. The wounded are quickly whisked off to the side by the medics to be looked over before being brought down to the medical bay itself, and the materials... well, they're a second priority to the people themselves. If they have time to bring them in, they will. If not, they'll have brought more people on than if they'd split their attention. "Make some noise when you're all aboard, campers," Starwind says into the comm, glancing towards the sensors operative. His gut tells him it's about to get worse. "Thirty eight, thirty nine! We're up!" Vengan shouts, shoving the last Marine down the hastily blasted access corridor. The Marine watches in amazement as Luke holds back the flood of magma with the raw focus of the Force itself, but still has the presence of mind to hit the emergency overrides. The door grinds, sparks fly and it stops about half shut. "Sir! We gotta go!" Vengan shouts. He reaches into his daypack and produces a double-fist slab of clay detonating compound, tossing it into the breach Luke's Force aura provides. The Marine pulls out the electronic detonator and slaps Luke's shoulder. "Let's go!" he shouts again over the roar of magma. "I'll blow the doors, that should buy us a few more seconds!" Luke opens his eyes to see that the blast door isn't going to shut all the way. "Spast," he curses, drops his arms and turns to run. "Go!" he shouts, running with Vengan with all due haste toward the rocky opening. The explosion behind him sends steel, rock and magma flying, splattering about the remains of the tunnel as it begins to collapse. He leaps into the air, having not used a grapple to get over, and soars into the hangar bay of the Audacity, tumbling upon his landing. Wrista, naturally, sent everyone else up first, and stuck behind on the end of her already-planted grapple line to make sure Luke and Vengan get clear. As she sees them come sprinting for the ship, she's sure Luke can make the jump with his usual mystical flair, so it's Vengan she points at herself. "Grab hold!" Better not to take the time to set his own grapple, given the time they have left, and she weighs so little, even in the enviro suit, that the line should barely notice the difference. As soon as she can, she thumbs the button to reel the line in to make the crossing to the Audacity. "Explosions got us into this mess, Lieutenant," Commander Starwind says over the comm as he makes his way over to the helm, sliding back into his earlier seat as he prepares to assist with the ascent himself. Cutting off his transmitter, he mutters under his breath as the sound of an explosion carries over the comm. "If that boy buries my ship in lava and rocks, I'm going to have a few words with his superiors..." He glances sidelong at the helmsman, who has looked at him, and arches both eyebrows expectantly. The Ensign hurriedly looks back to his console, biting his lip, and Starwind looks back to his own, waiting for the signal to come. As soon as word does come, a crisp "Now." is all Starwind needs to say. Between the Ensign's calculations and the Commander's assistance, the ship lurches upwards at a much faster clip than it had descended at. The bridge is silent but for the sound of keystrokes and comm chatter, security officers hurriedly helping to haul Vengan and Wrista up onto the ship so that they can close off the ship. A medic rushes over to where Luke has landed. "Oh karking hell!" Vengan pants, running as swiftly as the bulky environmental suit will permit. He does produce his own grapple as he runs, but instead of using it he clips the retainer to his belt and fairly leaps onto Wrista as he does so, glomming onto her like a giant Vroonian slug. As soon as he's on board, so to speak, the Marine fires his emergency grapple at the Audacity and hits the auto-reel button so as to help the device winch them in faster. There is a distinct *ping* as the grapple tethered to the rock wall comes loose, but the shipside ports are secure and in short order the two Marines are aboard. "Ace reports!" Vengan shouts automatically, still gasping for air even as he extricates himself from Wrista. "Status! Are we up? How's Jenkins?" "I'm fine," pants Luke, who rises to his feet out of the roll and quickly detaches his helmet, only to have to drop down again when the ship lurches, bracing himself with one hand on the floor. With the bay door still open, he can see the opening as lava begins to pour out, where the three of them stood mere moments ago. At first, his face is pensive, but then laugh lines form on his eyes and he chuckles. "Almost as good as canyon racing," he notes, then goes all serious again as a fresh spray of magma bounces off the shields, causing them to fizzle. His eyes dart over to the deck officer. "Get those doors closed!" Wrista lands in the bay, rolling her shoulder to offload her passenger so she doesn't end up piled underneath him when they touch down, and her first act when the bay closes is to strip her helmet off. "Next time, we can leave the autoblasters intact so they shoot at us while we run from magma flows if you want, Luke," she quips dryly. "Damnit, I told him this was a bad idea," Vengan grates to himself. "Ship this size...gonna tear the whole damn thing apart." His attention is diverted by the medics carting the wounded Marines off to the infirmary, then by a short conversation with his platoon sergeant. The deck officers need no prompting from Luke, already hurriedly closing off the doors as soon as they know they won't be catching anyone's limbs in the process. No answer comes to Vengan's question, not immediately, but a short moment later, Starwind's voice sounds over the comm. "We're free and clear," he states. "And undamaged." There's a pause. "You're welcome." Another beat pause. "We're on our way back upstairs to rejoin the others. Wounded to medical, the rest of you... take a load off. And shower, for Force's sake. I can smell the sulphur from here. Lo--" The comm cuts off. Whether it's intentional or the comm officer cutting him off, well, that's anyone's guess. Luke turns to smirk at Wrista. "Why didn't I think of that?" he replies. Wrista brings her hands up to the side of her face so she can cross her eyes at Luke, waggling her fingers to emphasize the words. "Because all that Force stuff has pureed your delicate, under-fed brainmeats, of course." Then she completely cracks up at the sheer absurdity of... everything. "Let's go stink up the Captain's bridge."